Austria: Ongoing Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution!

During the days of the tragic fall of Aleppo, a number of rallies took place in solidarity with the Syrian Revolution as well as the popular resistance in Egypt. Since the first rally of Syrian refugees on 15 December, on which we already published a report, four more rallies took place. The Austrian section of the RCIT participated actively in all these rallies and was invited to address three of them.

On Friday, 16 December, 1,500-2,000 people participated in a rally in front of the Austrian parliament. This rally was organized by some petty-bourgeois civil society Austrian activists. Hence, while the majority of the participants were migrants, the organizers kept the rally as a silent manifestation without any speeches and with people only holding candles. Activists of the Austrian section of the RCIT participated and distributed flyers summarizing our main conclusions and slogans for the continuation of the struggle against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.

On the next day, up to 3,000 migrants – most of them from Turkey – hold a rally in the inner city of Vienna. Several speakers from the Turkish community, a representative of the Syrian community as well as Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the RCIT, addressed the rally. Comrade Pröbsting denounced in his speech the hypocrisy of the Great Powers and called for the solidarity with continuation of the Syrian Revolution. He also denounced the racist migration policy of the European Union and the Austrian government and called for the opening of the borders for refugees.

On Sunday, 18 December, the Egypt community organized a rally in which the organizers called for solidarity both with the people in Syria as well as in Egypt. The Egypt community is organizing solidarity activities without interruptions since the military coup in July 2013. As it has been the case in the past years, the Austrian Section of the RCIT was invited to address the rally and comrade Pröbsting hold a speech.

Finally, on Monday 19 December, the Syrian community organized another rally. A few hours before the start of the rally, the Austrian police told the organizers that they were not allowed to hold their rally in front of the Russian embassy (where most rallies took place in the past). Hence, the organizers had to redirect people in the last minute to the new place of the rally. Nevertheless, more than 200 people turned up. Again, the Austrian Section of the RCIT was invited to speak and comrade Pröbsting addressed the participants.

The Austrian Section of the RCIT has supported the Arab Revolution from its beginning in early 2011. We affirms our support for the ongoing Syrian Revolution, despite the terrible defeat in Aleppo, along with our hostility towards all Great Powers and lesser, regional powers who all share the desire to liquidate the Syrian Revolution. However, to persevere and to revitalize the revolution, the workers and peasants must draw the lessons of past defeats. Amongst the most important lessons are:

* No trust in and no collaboration with any Great Power!

* No to sectarianism! For multi-religious and multi-national unity in the struggle against the Assad dictatorship! For full national self-determination for all national and ethnic minorities!

* No trust in the official rebel leaderships!

* For the formation of popular councils and popular militias!

*The international workers movement must rally to support the Syrian Revolution! For a workers aid campaign for the Syrian people – as it was done in solidarity with the Bosnian people in 1992-95!

* The international workers movement must organize a campaign to boycott the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his capitalist business friends! For workers actions against the imperialist forces attacking the Syrian people!

* Open the Boarders for the Syrian Refugees!

* Most of all: For the building of a revolutionary party in Syria as part of a new revolutionary International!

It is symbolic that in these days, the German-language department of the international VICE magazine published an article exclusively about the Austrian Section of the RCIT (https://www.vice.com/alps/article/antiimperialisten-rkob-antisemitismus-islamismus). Unsurprisingly, the article is hostile in its characterization of our organization, refers negatively to our collaboration with Muslim migrant communities and repeats the slanderous accusation that we are “Anti-Semitic” because of our opposition to Zionism (to “prove” this denunciation they quote several hard-core pro-Zionist “academics” which claim to have studied the Austrian Section of the RCIT.)

As revolutionary communists we are not surprised about the accelerating hostility of our political opponents as well as of bourgeois media. It simply reflects the ongoing political polarization, the accelerating racist Islamophobia and the increasing public profile of the Austrian Section of the RCIT. Obviously, our opponents are increasingly worried by our successful work. Good!

Aleppo has fallen – the Syrian Revolution will continue!

See pictures and video clips of the RCIT’s speeches at the following link (scroll down below the article):